View Full Version : 2 Old 3AL's Hit the Scrap Yard Today - Tanks for the Memories!
WB2GLP
February 9th, 2008, 10:56 AM
After reading many, many threads on Scubaboard and talking to a few people at the LDS, two more Luxfer tanks circa 1985 hit the scrap yard this morning. Adding everything up, it seemed like the right thing to do.
My LDS was talking about $106 each to get them current with a visual, hydro, eddy current etc. Once that was done, there was no guarantee that another shop would have touched them.
So, the scrap man was happy to take them and even left the boots on for gross weight. I'm still not 100% certain that these were manufactured with the bad alloy.
http://www.papendick.com/images/Tanks-for-the-Memories.jpg
NorthWoodsDiver
February 9th, 2008, 11:21 AM
to bad I would have paid for them to make things out of. I am trying to find one of those short fat 80's for a mailbox now.
wedivebc
February 9th, 2008, 11:49 AM
. I'm still not 100% certain that these were manufactured with the bad alloy.
That e6498 stamped on the tanks says they were. You did the right thing.
divenutny
February 9th, 2008, 12:53 PM
The DOT site is http://hazmat.dot.gov/pubs/reports/cylinder/3al_advisory.pdf
It sucks that shops/hydro facilities are refusing to touch these tanks. If memory serves me well, only abused/ignored tanks had issues. I understand the concerns, however, if the tank pass the eddy test and have no visable cracks, why do they need to be junked? However, my opinion may change if I was doing the hydro test.
My LDS will continue to vis and eddy test these tanks until the hydro expires. Some shops are refusing to look at them or fill them. I'm switching to steel.
james croft
February 9th, 2008, 01:01 PM
They were made of the 6351 alloy and a lot of shops won't fill them, right or wrong, but $106 for testing is out of line. You can buy new tanks for just a little bit more. The LDS was hosing you.
WB2GLP
February 9th, 2008, 01:29 PM
I'm use to getting hosed at this particular LDS which is close to my work. The other DS I have written about in another post is NOT the one wanting to hose me. I frequent the shop that is close to work because it is convenient for training classes and it's where I started 23 years ago.
Interesting enough, the guy at the LDS also told me that the valves were too short and not in spec for today's standards. My reply got him to burst out laughing..."Never try to BS a BS'er." He obligingly offered to sell me a couple new tanks and dispose of the other two.
Stu S.
February 9th, 2008, 09:33 PM
That's a $30 job around here. And it includes an airfill.
I was able to get my 1973 aluminum tank filled in Central Florida, and South Florida, too. But... it appeared that the end of local fills was getting near. (Plenty of posting on that topic.) So, it has a new happy owner in Tennessee. I sold it about a year ago.
Did you keep the valves? Somebody always can put those to use.
WB2GLP
February 10th, 2008, 02:48 PM
I kept the valves to play with in the future....even though my LDS said they were "too short."
I think they also need a new disgronificator and a tarocivit adjustment. :-)
wedivebc
February 10th, 2008, 02:52 PM
I kept the valves to play with in the future....even though my LDS said they were "too short."
I think they also need a new disgronificator and a tarocivit adjustment. :-)
What he means is the valve is too close to the shoulder of the tank and hurts his widdle fingies when he has to move them so you have to buy new tanks.
offroaddiver
February 10th, 2008, 03:11 PM
one of my neighbors had some oxyacetylene tanks that he couldn't get filled so he cut the bottoms off welded up an eye on the top of the tank plasma cut some designs into them and now has gongs for his wife's garden. I think a set of pony bottle wind chimes sounds good to me.
MSDT Mark
February 10th, 2008, 08:13 PM
Wow, our LDS charges $28 for hydro / Visual / Eddy & Air Fill. As for the cylinder being made of 6351, Luxfer has informed me that as long as the cylinder passes vis and is eddy tested to keep it in service.
Scared Silly
February 10th, 2008, 08:31 PM
My LDS was talking about $106 each to get them current with a visual, hydro, eddy current etc. Once that was done, there was no guarantee that another shop would have touched them.
I hope for that price it would come with a couple of tubes of Christ-o-lube cause that cause your getting screwed big time.
DEEPLOU
February 10th, 2008, 10:23 PM
Wow, our LDS charges $28 for hydro / Visual / Eddy & Air Fill. As for the cylinder being made of 6351, Luxfer has informed me that as long as the cylinder passes vis and is eddy tested to keep it in service.
That's fine with me as long as Luxfer (and not me) is filling them.
MSDT Mark
February 14th, 2008, 10:34 PM
That's fine with me as long as Luxfer (and not me) is filling them.
I fully understand and respect your concern with filling 6351 alloy cylinders. I am a bit paranoid by nature myself. That is why I took the training provided by Professional Scuba Inspectors. I wanted to know for myself that my high pressure cylinders were safe.
However to keep things in perspective over 5.9 million cylinders have been made from 6351 alloy. Only 8 scuba cylinders have ruptured from Sustained Load Cracks (SLC). All the ruptures were during filling, all were leaking and all had a long crack which could have been noticed by a trained cylinder inspection and taken out of service prior to the explosion.
Your odds of becoming a lightning victim in the U.S. in any one year is 1 in 700,000. Your odds of being struck in your lifetime is 1 in 3,000.
Have your cylinders inspected by trained inspectors and don’t forget to duck!
WB2GLP
February 14th, 2008, 11:35 PM
My concern was not with filling them or using them. I know the odds of an SLC is low and an explosion as a result of an SLC even lower. Unfortunately, right or wrong, there seems to be a direct correlation between odds of explosion and my odds of getting them filled now and in the future.
Perhaps they will reincarnate as something usefully like beer cans in their next life.
weaserm99
February 15th, 2008, 01:11 AM
Its to bad your shop didnt offer you anything for them. I work for a shop in Buffalo and we stopped testing the tanks and or filling them. We offer everyone that wants to turn them in a 50 dollar credit towards a new tank. We then drain em, ruin the threads and take them to the scrap yard. So far about 35 people have turned in an old tank.
Stu S.
February 15th, 2008, 05:46 AM
Its to bad your shop didnt offer you anything for them. I work for a shop in Buffalo and we stopped testing the tanks and or filling them. We offer everyone that wants to turn them in a 50 dollar credit towards a new tank. We then drain em, ruin the threads and take them to the scrap yard. So far about 35 people have turned in an old tank.
Outstanding. What does your shop sell a new aluminum 80 for?
weaserm99
February 15th, 2008, 12:04 PM
We normally sell them for $170, so u get $50 bucks off when you turn a tank in.
Stu S.
February 15th, 2008, 01:32 PM
$50 is about what those bring on eBay. If the trade-in tank needed hydro and visual, there's another $30 that could go toward a new one.
That $50 trade-in would be great in Florida. Due to sales volume, tanks sell in the $130-150 range, and the old ones are losing favor with compressor owners.
